This application is based on Patent Application No. 11-156360 (1999) filed on Jun. 3, 1999 in Japan, the content of which is incorporated hereinto by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an amusement facility to be provided within a building.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, there have been known amusement facilities such as a theme park, an amusement park, a movie theater, a game arcade and so on. In recent years, a relatively large scale amusement facility is provided in one building.
Different from a game arcade, in which arcade game machines are mainly arranged, the amusement facility provided in one building includes amusement equipment on the basis of a particular concept similar to the theme park. For example, such an amusement facility is provided with playland like vehicle type amusement equipment running on rails, a floor or the like, amusement equipment projecting a three-dimensional video image, simulator equipment reproducing acceleration feeling, up-and-down feeling of vehicles, such as a roller coaster, an air plain or the like by moving a seat or the like or a movie theater with satisfactory acoustic equipment, projection equipment and interior design and so on. Normally, the amusement facility is collectively provided with four to fifteen number of the above amusement equipment in combination.
Such an amusement facility can be provided in a busy downtown street in an urban area if a large building can be constructed. It is also possible to provide the amusement facility in combination with a shopping facility in the shopping facility and the like in a suburb area of a city. Accordingly, in a certain locational condition, marquee can be expected with the amusement facility alone, and in addition, a synergy effect in enhancing marquee can be expected in cooperation with the shopping facility.
Even the above amusement facility of relatively large scale to be provided in a large building, there is a low possibility that a proportion of tourists visiting from a remote area becomes high like a theme park. Conversely, there is a high possibility that a proportion of customers visiting from a close area becomes high.
Accordingly, the amusement facility set forth above is not necessarily unique over a relatively wide range. Even if similar amusement facilities are located in various places, there should be a little influence for marquee of each individual amusement facility. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a plurality of similar amusement facilities in suburb areas of a large city or to provide similar amusement facilities in respective cities and suburb areas thereof.
However, when a plurality of similar amusement facilities are provided, difficulties should be encountered, in view of locational conditions, to provide substantially the same shape and size for buildings, in which respective amusement facilities are installed. Therefore, each of amusement facilities has to be designed individually corresponding to the building, in which the facility is installed. Accordingly, a difficulty is encountered in that significantly lowering equipment cost cannot be expected even by a chain-store operation.
On the other hand, since the foregoing amusement facility requires larger scale amusement equipment in comparison with the arcade game machine, construction of the building, power sources and other equipment have to be adapted for the large amusement equipment. Therefore, the amusement facility is difficult to be installed in an existing building, and construction of a new building becomes necessary to possibly cause high costs.
On the other hand, in the amusement facility of the type set forth above, and particularly in the case of the chain-store operation, residents in a relatively narrow area should be primary customers. Therefore, it is important to catch repeaters repeatedly visiting the facility. However, in the amusement facility of the type set forth above, there are amusement facilities including not only amusement equipment expected to catch repeaters, such as a movie theater, in which repeaters can be attracted by sequentially exchanging movies to be played, but also amusement equipment which can be gotten tired of after playing for one or several times. In the later amusement equipment, a problem is encountered in that marquee can be lowered according to elapse of time after installation.
Furthermore, the amusement equipment of larger scale than the arcade game machine or the like, requires a substantial cost and a period from planning and designing until an installation of the amusement equipment when the existing amusement equipment is to be exchanged with new amusement equipment. In addition, a long period and a high cost should be required for actual refitting. Accordingly, in view of an economic viability, a difficulty is encountered in exchanging the amusement equipment even when marquee is lowered.
The present invention has been worked out in view of the problems set forth above. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an amusement facility, a container for amusement facility and an installation method of amusement equipment which can easily install amusement equipment in a building at a low cost and necessary amusement equipment can be refreshed at a low cost.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an amusement facility constructed by installing one or more containers containing amusement equipment therein, within a building, characterized in that;
the building is provided with an opening portion for carrying-in-and-out the container, and
a container supporting portion is provided within the building for supporting the container to be carried-in-and-out through the opening portion.
With the construction set forth above, the opening portion and the container supporting portion are provided on the building side, and the amusement equipment is preliminarily installed in the container. Then, the container is carried into the building and installed on the container supporting portion to install the amusement equipment. Thus, the amusement facility including the amusement equipment can be easily constructed.
On the other hand, the opening portion on the building side, the container supporting portion and the container are preliminarily standardized respectively, the amusement equipment can be installed in any building and modification of the design of the amusement equipment becomes unnecessary. Therefore, in a chain-store operation with similar amusement equipment, cost can be lowered. In other words, the chain-store operation can be easily effected with similar amusement equipment at low cost. Furthermore, by this chain-store operation, the same amusement equipment can be installed in a plurality of amusement facilities to facilitate collection of the investment for planning and designing of the amusement equipment.
On the other hand, since the container supporting portion of the building supports the container containing the amusement equipment for easily carrying-in-and-out through the opening portion, by replacing the container installed in the building with other container, the amusement equipment can be easily replaced. Accordingly, by replacing the amusement equipment, marquee of which is lowered, with another amusement equipment, the marquee can be easily recovered and increasing of repeaters can be promoted.
On the other hand, by replacing the container, the amusement equipment can be easily replaced. Therefore, a period required for changing the amusement equipment can be shortened remarkably. Thus, loss of income due to down period for face-lifting can be minimized.
The building can be any constructions as long as a large opening portion can be formed on at least one surface irrespective of building materials, such as structures, such as a reinforcement structure, a reinforced concrete structure, a reinforced steel frame concrete structure, such as by including bent. On the other hand, the opening portion of the building may be opened and closed by providing an opening and closing member, such as a shutter or the like or by arranging a detachable curtain wall. The rear end face of the container may form a part of the external wall of the building.
The container supporting portion may be any constructions for carrying-in-and-out the container through the opening portion of the building. Upon installation of the container in the building, it is preferred to detachably fix the container. For fixing the container to the container supporting portion, known bolts or various joining members may be used. On the other hand, the member for fixing the container may be a connecting member having a movable portion and it automatically fixes the container upon installation of the container.
Further, the container supporting portion may have a portion, on which the container is installed, slidably supporting the container upon movably supporting the container. For example, wheels or rollers or the like may be provided on the container side, and the portion rotatably supports the wheels or rollers. On the other hand, the container supporting portion may have a conveyer structure, such as a belt conveyer, a roller conveyer or the like.
The container may have a sufficient strength for installing the amusement equipment therein, and can be transported. The container is not required to have a strength as a part of the body of the building.
On the other hand, the containers may be arranged adjacently or connected with each other to form one amusement equipment, such as a movie theater. When the amusement equipment for one function from fractions of the amusement equipment arranged in a plurality of containers, or, in consideration of entering and exiting into and from the space in the building other than the space where the container is installed, a construction which can provide an opening portion easily, is preferred. For example, a frame like structure is preferred. However, the container of the present invention may be one having face plates surrounding respective outer surfaces thereof. Then, the opening portion may be formed in the face plate portion.
The amusement equipment can be equipment having a screen and projecting equipment (including not only a typical movie theater but also one capable of projecting a three-dimensional screen image, one having a substantially hemisphere screen, one having multiple screens, one having special effects, such as a feeling of smell, aroma, temperature and the like, acceleration feeling and/or up-and-down feeling by motion of chair or the like, can be experienced in addition to a screen image and sound), one providing a virtual experience of riding on a riding tool, such as skis, a snow board, roller skates, a skate board or the like, one providing a virtual experience of sporting, such as fishing, throwing a ball, batting or the like, one providing a virtual experience of controlling an automobile, a motorcycle, a ship, an air plain, an electric car or the like (including a simulator of an air plain, an electric car or the like), one reproducing a city, and so on. However, the amusement to be enjoyed in the amusement equipment should not be specified to those listed above and can be any equipment which can be used within the building.
Accordingly, the equipment is not only for watching moving pictures, providing virtual experiences and so on, but can be any entertainment equipment, such as bowling alleys, a squash field, a gymnastic hall, a body shop and so forth permitting actual sporting or training as long as capable of installing in the space of one or a plurality of containers. Furthermore, the equipment may be typical entertainment equipment to be installed in the building.
Here, the container supporting portion may include a guide member formed in a portion adjacent to the opening portion in the building, and the guide member guiding the container along a direction for carrying-in-and-out the container.
With the construction set forth above, by guiding carrying-in-and-out the container by means of the guiding member, the container can be certainly carried-in-and-out.
It should be noted that the guiding member may have any structure capable of guiding motion for carrying-in-and-out the container by restricting movement in directions other than the direction of carrying the container in and out the building. For example, the guide member may be a rail, on which the container may engage for movement in the direction of carrying-in-and-out. It should be appreciated that the rail may be one guiding movement of the container as mounted thereon, or, in the alternative, can be one guiding movement of the container in a hanged condition. It is also possible that the container is installed in a condition rigidly secured by means of bolts, joining members, connecting members and so on.
Furthermore, in the amusement facility it is preferred to further comprise a container carrying-in-and-out actuation means for drawing the container from the outside of the building within the building along the guide member and pushing out the container arranged within the building along the guide member.
With the construction set forth above, by an elevating means, such as a crane or the like, the container arranged in front of the opening portion of the building is drawn by the container carrying-in-and-out actuation means in the condition guided by the guiding member. Thus, the container can be easily installed in the building. On the other hand, the container arranged in the building can be easily pushed out of the building in the condition guided by the guiding member. It should be appreciated that, at this time, in order to prevent the pushed out container from falling down, a means for supporting the container outside of the building may be arranged, or in the alternative, the container is pushed out in the condition preliminarily connected to a hanger of the crane and in synchronism with an action of the crane.
The container carrying-in-and-out actuation means may employ a known hydraulic cylinder, a combination of a winch and a wire (and wheel), a combination of a motor, a chain and a sprocket, a combination of rack and pinion, a worm screw and so on.
It should be appreciated that the container supporting portion may include an extendable container supporting member movable between a condition retracted into said building and a condition extended outwardly through the opening portion, and a container supporting member actuation means for actuating the extendable container supporting member,
whereby the extendable container supporting member takes the container in and out of the building with the extendable container supporting member being moved in a condition mounting the container.
With the construction set forth above, upon lifting up and down the container by the crane as the elevating means, it becomes difficult to feed the container in the building from the opening portion in parallel movement for interference with the building. It becomes possible to easily feed the container by mounting the container on the extendable container supporting member in the condition extended outside from the opening portion of the building after hanging the container by the crane and retracting the extendable container supporting member in this condition. On the other hand, with the construction set forth above, the container installed in the building can be fed out of the building by the extendable container supporting member. In this condition, the container can be easily hanged down by the crane,
It should be noted that the extendable container supporting member may be a plate form or a frame form member movable along the extending direction and fitted to a member rigidly secured on the building side, and has to have a strength sufficient for supporting the container in the extended condition.
On the other hand, the container supporting member actuation means may be similar to the container carrying-in-and-out actuation means.
Furthermore, the building may be an existing one, the opening portion is formed in the existing building, and the container supporting member may be provided in the existing building.
With the construction set forth above, upon providing the amusement equipment, the equipment can be provided in an existing building. Therefore, a cost can be lowered in comparison with the case where the building having the amusement facility is newly constructed. It should be appreciated that when the building has a frame construction, for example, a large opening portion can be easily formed by removing a curtain wall. Then, by only providing the container supporting member in the form of a floor frame, carrying in and installation of the container in the existing building becomes possible. On the other hand, even in the building other than frame construction, the large opening portion may be formed in an exterior wall portion as long as the building has an exterior wall not serving as a bearing wall.
Moreover, the amusement facility may further comprise an elevating means for elevating the container, and a sliding supporting portion is provided in the elevating means for slidably supporting the container with the building.
With the construction set forth above, even if the elevating means is the crane, for example, the container can be easily drawn within the building by hanging the container via the sliding supporting member and making the container slidable on the sliding supporting member. Particularly, by providing a connecting portion connecting the sliding supporting member to the building and slidingly moving the container in the condition where the sliding supporting member is connected to the building, for example, drawing of the container into the building can be more facilitated. Also, by making the sliding supporting member connectable with the building, the container can be easily taken out by pushing the container from the building with supporting the container by the sliding supporting member in the condition connecting the sliding supporting member to the building.
It should be noted that the sliding supporting member may have a guiding member engaging with the container in the condition permitting movement in the direction for carrying the container in and out the building, for example. The sliding supporting member may support the container in the condition mounted thereon or in the condition hanged therefrom. Also, the elevating means may be a hanging device, such as a crane or the like, or a vehicle for high lift work. It should be appreciated that the crane may be typical one extracting and retracting the wire from a tip end portion of one arm, or, in the alternative, may have a construction to hand the container in the same manner as a crane for container in a container ship.
Further, it is preferred that in the elevating means, provided is a container carrying-in-and-out means for pushing the container supported on the sliding supporting portion in the building and drawing the container in the building onto the sliding supporting portion.
With the construction set forth above, by the container carrying-in-and-out means, the container supported by the sliding supporting portion can be easily carried into the building by pushing the container, and can be carried out by drawing the container in the building toward the sliding supporting portion.
It should be appreciated that, in this case, the sliding supporting portion has a structure to be connected to the building to receive a reactive force from the building during movement of the container.
On the other hand, the container carrying-in-and-out means may be similar to the container carrying-in-and-out actuation means, for example.
Furthermore, the elevating means may be one movable on a road.
With the above, only when the container is carried in or out, the elevating means is moved in the vicinity of the building for use. Therefore, the elevating means is not necessarily dedicated for one building to contribute for lowering of the cost.
It should be noted that in the elevating means, while the sliding supporting member, the container carrying-in-and-out means, for example, are dedicated for the container of the present invention, rest part of the elevating means may be a general self propelling type crane or a vehicle for high lift work.
On the other hand, the elevating means may be one provided on the building.
With the construction set forth above, since the elevating means is provided on the building, the carrying-in-and-out of the container can be performed easily. By providing the elevating means on the building, it can be an elevating means having a structure similar to the dedicated crane to further facilitate elevating the container up and down, for example.
It should be appreciated that the elevating means may be provided on the rooftop portion of the building, for example. It is also possible to leave a crane used for lifting up constructional materials during construction of the building without removing it so as to use it as the elevating means.
Furthermore, it is preferable that in the building, at least one of wiring and piping to be connected to the container is arranged and a building side connecting portion for connecting the at least one of wiring and piping to the container side is provided,
in the container, at least one of wiring and piping to be connected to the building is arranged and a container side connecting portion for connecting the at least one of wiring and piping to the building side is provided, and
among the building side connecting portion and the container side connecting portion, at least one of connecting portions is movable toward the other of connecting portions, and one connecting portion being moved toward the other connecting portion to detachably connect the connecting portions with each other.
With the construction set forth above, at least one of the connecting portions of the building side connecting portion and the container side connecting portion is moved toward the other connecting portion to establish connection for easily connecting the wiring and piping between the building side and the container side.
It should be noted that the connecting portion which is adapted for movement, may be moved by a driving means, for example. With this construction, the movable connecting portion can be easily moved. In this case, it is preferred that at least one of the connecting portions is mounted in a condition having play for movement for a little distance in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction. Also, at this time, one of the connecting portions is provided with a bar like projecting portion, for example, and the other connecting portion is provided with a conical shaped or funnel shaped hole, into which the projecting portion is inserted, for example. It is preferred that by inserting the foregoing projecting portion into the hole, the connecting portions are connected in the condition accurately positioned with respect to each other. On the other hand, at least one of the projecting portions is mounted via a resilient or elastic member so that the resilient or elastic member may absorb shock upon connection between the connecting portions. It should be appreciated that as the connecting portions of the wiring and the piping, known connection structures may be employed.
Furthermore, it is preferred that a moving direction of the container from the opening portion when carried in and a moving direction of the container side connecting portion toward the building side connecting portion are consistent, and the container side connecting portion and the building side connecting portion are arranged so as to establish connection between the container side connecting portion and the building side connecting portion when the container is located at an installation position upon completion of movement of the container carried-in.
With the construction set forth above, upon carrying in and installing the container, the container side connecting portion and the building side connecting portion are connected so that an arrangement of the wiring and piping can be completed only by installing the container, allowing to place respective equipment in the container in the states ready for use.
It should be noted that at least one of connecting portions is preferably placed in a condition having play. On the other hand, it is preferred that the connecting portion has a structure to permit positioning as set forth above. It is also preferred to absorb the shock upon connection by the resilient or elastic member, as set forth above.
It should be noted that the wiring may be for performing at least one of power supply and transmission and reception of a signal, and the piping may be for performing at least one of air conditioning, a hydraulic pressure supply, a compressed air supply, a smell supply, a hot air and cold air supply, a waster supply and drainage, a coolant supply and a hot water supply.
With the construction set forth above, a power supply for the container can be easily done. In conjunction therewith, transmission and reception of the signals can be done easily. When a sequence of amusement equipment extends over a plurality of containers, for example, or when a mutual fight can be performed by respective arcade game machines with a plurality of mutual fighting type arcade game machines being arranged over a plurality of containers, for example, the signal may a signal for enabling mutual fighting between the arcade game machines. On the other hand, the signal may be a signal for controlling the amusement equipment within the container. Furthermore, the signal may be a signal for delivering program or the like from outside of the container in order to actuate the amusement equipment in the container. Similarly, the signal may be a signal for delivering video and audio data from the outside for use in the amusement equipment in the container. On the other hand, the signal may be a signal output to a control room outside of the container from various sensors installed within the container.
Furthermore, in addition to the container, in which amusement equipment is provided, a container provided with utility equipment may be supported on the container supporting portion in the building to be carried-in-and-out through the opening portion similarly to the container provided with the amusement equipment therein.
With the construction set forth above, since it becomes unnecessary to provide utility equipment for the container to be installed in the building, designing and construction of the building can be facilitated when a building with the amusement facility according to the present invention is to be newly constructed.
On the other hand, upon installing the amusement facility of the present invention in the existing building, modification of the construction on the existing building side can be minimized.
It should be noted that the utility equipment is as listed below. However, the utility equipment may also be a rest room, a kiosk or the like.
The utility equipment in the utility equipment containing container may perform at least one of a power supply and transmission and reception of a signal, air conditioning, a hydraulic pressure supply, a compressed air supply, a smell supply, a hot air and cold air supply, a waster supply and drainage, a coolant supply and a hot water supply, for the container provided with the amusement equipment therein.
With the construction set forth above, even when a power supply equipment for supplying sufficient power for the amusement facility is not provided on the building side, for example, power can be supplied to respective containers by externally connecting a power cable to the container having the utility equipment therein. Similarly, even when equipment for power supply and transmission and reception of a signal, air conditioning, a hydraulic pressure supply, a compressed air supply, a smell supply, a hot air and cold air supply, a water supply and drainage, a coolant supply and a hot water supply are not provided on the building side, such function may be satisfied by the container having the utility equipment.
Namely, for the amusement facility, equipment not necessary for the normal building or equipment (such as air conditioner) having higher performance for gathering of large number of people, can be required. By installing the container having the utility equipment, these extra equipment may not be required to be provided on the building side. Therefore, designing and construction of the building can be facilitated. Furthermore, this permits the amusement facility of the present invention to be installed in the existing building.
Furthermore, a plurality of the containers may be arranged within one building to form an amusement space containing a plurality of amusement equipment.
With the construction set forth above, by installing a plurality of containers in one building, while there is a spatial limitation as being in the building, a space provided with a plurality of amusement equipment like a theme park, a playland, a cinema complex and so forth, can be provided.
It should be appreciated that the amusement equipment in one container is not necessarily one equipment but can be a fraction of the amusement equipment so that the amusement equipment in a plurality of containers may function as one amusement equipment.
On the other hand, it is preferred that the opening portion and the container supporting portion of the building are provided corresponding to one or more sizes of standardized containers.
With the construction set forth above, the equipment on the building side of the amusement equipment of the present invention, namely the opening portion and the container supporting portion are standardized to facilitate construction and modification of the building when the amusement facilities are provided in a plurality of buildings.
It should be appreciated that by providing a plurality kinds of standards for the container instead of providing only one kind of standard, the containers may be easily adapted to the size of the building and/or size of the amusement equipment while some disadvantage is expected in a viewpoint of cost. Thus, formation of a waste space in the container and/or building can be avoided.
Furthermore, a plurality of the containers installed adjacent with each other or connected with each other may be communicated with each other through an opening portion formed in a wall across which the containers are adjacent, and amusement equipment contained in respective containers are combined to form an integrated single amusement equipment.
With the construction set forth above, even if the size of the container is restricted by environmental conditions, such as a condition of roads to be passed in transporting the container, relatively large amusement equipment, such as a movie theater, can be formed by combining a plurality of containers. Thus, the amusement equipment is not limited to that of small scale.
It should be appreciated that directions to combine a plurality of containers is not limited in the horizontal direction, such as in a lateral direction or a back-and-forth direction for combining horizontally adjacent containers, but can be in the vertical direction to combine vertically adjacent containers. Also, since some building has a span of upper and lower beams for two flowers instead of one flower, the containers may be arranged to combine respective amusement equipment even in the vertical direction between the upper and lower beams. On the other hand, at this time, an up and down going construction, such as stairs, may be provided between the vertically combined containers.
Here, the amusement equipment serving as integrated single amusement equipment as combined may have a function as attraction equipment, movie projecting equipment, video game equipment and the like.
With the construction set forth above, the amusement equipment having functions of attraction equipment, which will become more attractive when arranged in a wider space, movie projecting equipment and arcade video game equipment and so on can be provided by installing a plurality of containers.
It should be appreciated that the attraction equipment, movie projecting equipment, arcade video game equipment and so on may be provided in a narrower space. However, a smaller screen in the movie theater may provide a smaller difference from watching a television at home to degrade an entertaining ability as the amusement facility. Namely, in the amusement facility, a scale of the equipment, a scale of the space, and a number of gathering people and the like should be important factors for determining the entertaining ability, so that in a certain kind of amusement facility, a greater scale can enhance the entertaining ability. Therefore, by forming a large space by combining a plurality of containers and providing the foregoing amusement equipment in such a large space, the entertaining ability of the amusement facility employing the containers of the present invention can be enhanced.
Here, the amusement equipment arranged in one or more containers may be controlled by a signal input from outside of the container, in which the amusement equipment is arranged.
With the construction set forth above, the amusement equipment within the container can be controlled by the signal from outside of the container. Namely, the control of the equipment in each container can be controlled externally. For example, the air conditioning unit, the lighting unit, the sound unit may be arranged within the container as basic equipment of the amusement equipment, the control of such units may be done from outside of the container. Accordingly, it becomes unnecessary to provide devices for adjusting set values by the managing staff. Thus, the limited space in the container can be effectively used.
On the other hand, when the equipment in the container can be controlled externally, a control terminal for concentrically controlling equipment in respective containers may be provided. The control terminal may be provided as one of utility equipment in the container installed with the utility equipment. On the other hand, the basic units, such as an air conditioning unit, a lighting unit, a sound unit and the like are installed in most of the containers, and have a general applicability. Therefore, by installing the equipment which can be controlled in the same manner, control of the basic equipment by the control terminal can be maintained even when the amusement equipment are renewed by replacing the containers.
It should be appreciated that the amusement equipment to be controlled by the signal from outside is not limited to the basic equipment set forth above. Instead, the control terminal may also control the equipment respectively unique in respective containers, such as movie projecting equipment or driving equipment providing an acceleration feeling or an up-and-down feeling in the simulator or the like.
On the other hand, it is preferred that a content of amusement in the amusement equipment arranged in one or more containers can be varied by exchanging an electronic board loaded in the amusement equipment.
With the construction set forth above, in the equipment having a general applicability in which a content of a play can be varied, for example, by varying motion of a screen image or a driving portion to be used in the amusement equipment by changing the electronic board, the content of the play can be easily varied by rewriting the control program of the driving portion, the video and audio data with the data supplied from the outside of the container.
For example, in the amusement equipment for virtual driving of a racing car, it is possible to vary the racing course, or to vary the action of the racing car for virtual racing from an on-road action to an off-road action. On the other hand, in the movie theater providing the acceleration feeling or the up-and-down feeling by action of the chair, the motion of the chair can be easily adapted to the movie by exchanging the electronic board. Further, with the construction set forth above, not only modification of the software for version-up and so on but also modification of the hardware for version-up and so on becomes possible. Thus, more advanced amusement can be provided.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a container for an amusement facility to be used in the amusement facility, wherein amusement equipment is installed in the container before installation within a building.
With the construction set forth above, upon installation of the container in the building, the amusement facility is situated in a substantially completely constructed condition. Therefore, by exchanging the containers, exchanging of the amusement equipment can also be almost completed.
Here, it is preferred that the container is rectangular parallelepiped or substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and one or more sizes thereof are standardized.
With the construction set forth above, by standardizing the size of the container, a mass production of the container can be easily performed. In addition, it is also possible to standardize equipment on the building side and equipment in the container. By this, when the amusement facilities according to the invention are placed in a chain-store operation, it becomes possible to cost down of the containers, the equipment in the container, the equipment on the building side and the like.
Here, it is preferred that the container includes a framework formed with a rectangular frame arranged in a ceiling portion, a rectangular frame arranged in a bottom portion and pillar frames vertically arranged for connecting respective four corners of the ceiling and bottom frames, and each equipment is provided in the framework.
With the construction set forth above, since the container has a frame structure, when the equipment in a plurality of containers are assembled, the containers adjacent in lateral, back and forth or vertical direction can be easily communicated with each other to facilitate combining of the equipment.
It should be noted that the openings in the container may be closed by attaching face panels as required. On the other hand, crossbars for reinforcement or parts mounting may be mounted on the frame portion.
Furthermore, a floor surface may be formed at a position spaced apart from a bottom surface thereof for arranging at least one of wiring and piping in a clearance defined between the floor surface and the bottom surface, and a connecting portion for connecting the at least one of the wiring and piping to building side may be externally exposed.
With the construction set forth above, by providing the floor surface above the bottom surface of the container and by arranging the wiring and piping within the clearance defined between the floor surface and the bottom surface, the space within the container can be effectively used. It should be noted that the floor surface is not necessarily extend to cover the entire bottom surface. Namely, for the position where the equipment is installed, the floor surface may not be provided so as to directly support the equipment by the bottom portion of the container. On the other hand, when the containers adjacent vertically are combined, the floor surface of the upper container may not be provided.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an amusement equipment installation method for installing amusement equipment in an amusement facility, comprising the steps of:
transporting a container provided therein with amusement equipment to a building,
carrying the container in the building through an opening portion formed in the building, and
installing the container in the building by supporting on a container supporting portion.
With the above, the amusement facility can be easily provided by carrying the container into the building and installing the container.
Here, a plurality of the containers are installed in a plurality of the amusement facilities, respectively, the containers may be manufactured in a factory, and amusement equipment or utility equipment for the container containing the amusement equipment may be installed in the containers in the factory.
With the above, by a mass production of the container and by making the amusement equipment in the container common in various amusement facilities, lowering of manufacturing cost can be achieved. It should be noted that a factory of manufacturing the container, a factory of manufacturing the amusement equipment, and a factory of installing the amusement equipment in the containers may be independent of each other. However, when the container size is large, it is preferred that the factory of the container and the factory of the amusement equipment are common or are located close to each other.
Furthermore, the amusement equipment installation method may further comprise the step of installing another amusement equipment in the building in place of an existing amusement equipment by carrying in a container containing the another amusement equipment after carrying out a container containing the existing amusement equipment in the building.
With the above method, the amusement equipment, marquee of which has been lowered, can be exchanged easily by exchanging the container. On the other hand, since the amusement equipment can be exchanged in a short period by exchanging the container, long down period becomes avoided. Thus, the amusement equipment can be exchanged at low cost. Furthermore, by frequent exchange of the amusement equipment, increasing of repeaters can be promoted.
On the other hand, the amusement equipment installation method may further comprise the steps of;
carrying out the container installed in the building,
carrying in the container just carried out in another building, and
installing the container in the another building.
With the above method, one container can be used for a plurality of amusement facilities to permit exchanging of the amusement equipment at low cost. On the other hand, even for the building, in which a large number of amusement equipment cannot be installed, by exchanging the amusement equipment with other amusement facility in the similar building, greater variety of amusement equipment can be provided for the customer.
It should be noted that, when the container once installed in one building is to be installed in another building, it may be carried into the factory for maintenance before installation in another building. In some cases, a part or a whole of the amusement equipment in the container is exchanged before installation in another building.
The above and other objects, effects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.